Disasters

Hurricane Isaac made landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River as a Category 1 storm, cutting power, overtopping levees, dumping massive rains, damaging buildings, and potentially stirring up oil left over from the BP oil spill.

"A crusading oil patch lawyer calls the American refinery industry an 'under-regulated cesspool.' A member of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is more polite, describing a mismatch between well-heeled oil companies and under-qualified government regulators."

"Tropical Storm Isaac gathered strength early Tuesday and was on the verge of becoming a Category 1 hurricane as it rumbled toward the Gulf Coast, though precisely where it will make landfall remains guesswork, forecasters said Tuesday."

"Levees protecting most of the city of Sacramento and 15 other areas of the Central Valley were declared today to have failed federal maintenance criteria. As a result, they are no longer eligible for federal rebuilding funds in the event of a levee breach."

"RICHMOND -- An Oakland-based attorney says he has more than 3,000 signed-on seeking legal action against Chevron stemming from a fire at the oil company's local refinery on Aug. 6."

"Extreme weather is putting America’s power grid to the test, with a year-long run of violent storms and record heat battering a system built for fairer skies."

"PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela -- A huge explosion rocked Venezuela's biggest oil refinery and unleashed a ferocious fire on Saturday, killing at least 39 people and injuring more than 80 others in one of the deadliest disasters ever to hit the country's key oil industry."

"The National Hurricane Center has placed the New Orleans area under a hurricane watch for Isaac, which is now forecast to make landfall at Gulfport on Wednesday at 7 a.m.  as a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph. The new forecast extends the hurricane watch area westward to Morgan City.

"Policymakers determined to maintain nuclear energy believed most people would still want it as part of the nation’s power generation despite the accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant. Their calculations were way off."

"WILDWOOD, Mo. -- The wells supplying people’s homes are running dry here at the heart of the nation’s drought, which the government announced on Thursday has spread to 63.2 percent of the country, centered in the parched earth of the southern Midwest."